Ac/dc Tig Welder Required.

[chazpowerslide]

Ok chaps.

Mr 'Slide is looking to get an AC/DC tig setup so I can get cracking on with some of the more complex bits of my single seater (sump/catch tanks/fuel tank ect)

I really need to be able to weld aluminium hence the requirement for AC.

I think that 5mm would be the maximum thickness in ally so an out put above 160A would be required as would pre and post gas and slope up and slope down amps and pulse.

Water cooling would be nice.

I have had a look at some of the Chinese stuff and some hybrid sets (R-Tech Europe sourced parts assembled in the UK) but I'm unsure about comitting and not really knowing what I'm getting.

The Chinese sets don't seem to have a good reputation and it seems that many UK "manafactures" re-brand the chinese sets to sell on but the backup and support is p*** poor.

Murex/Esab/Miller/Hobart ect are very good well known makes but are well out of my price range even second hand ones are hard to find and make good money.

I have had a good look at R-Tech (European sourced parts and assembled in the UK) and so far like what I see and hear but I'm still not sure.

Any advice in general or a pointer to second hand sets that would be suitable would be good.

Chaz.

[windy]

I've been looking at these too. Single phase can now do ally but I think you need to spend about 2.5K on a Miller one. Our work supplier says steer well clear of the chinese stuff. Some are dangerous even though they claim to have CE labelling so be careful.

Our work unit has water cooling but it doesn't need it unless you are doing continuous production run stuff.

[chazpowerslide]

I have done plenty of research on R Tec now and have not found adverse comments Graham.

The products get good reviews and their backup looks very good.

Their machines look to be a good compromise between the cheap Chinese stuff and the likes of Miller ect.

Ideally I'd pay for a used Miller/Murex/Hobart/Esab but they are few and far between and command high prices.

I'll have another chat to R-Tec today and find out about the used machine I'm looking at.

Chaz.

[ACW]

You will want a pedal for Ally to control variation in the current ideally as you need up up the heat a lot at the beggining of the weld and back it off. Also a lot of practise and cleanliness is required.If youve gone gas welding it will help.

I have a Cerbora unit single phase unit I picked up years ago. About as big as you can get on single phase, but I think I paid about 3.5K for it, but that might have been 10 years ago. Having a TiG really adds to the garage set up, and it means you spend even more hours precision welding stuff. My avatar is me tigging each rivnut into place on the chassis to maintain integrity and stop the b*******s spinning. I weld around the outside of each unit having crimped them initially such is the precision of tig.

[TIG Brother]

As webmaster has stated make sure you have a foot pedal as this is a must for aluminium work.

I personally wouldn't worry about having functions of up and down slope, most decent TIG sets will have a post flow option for gas.

The pulser is also a very nice option to have if you can get it.

My work set up is a miller dynasty 350 water cooled, and I have tried many welders during my years and I have to admit there is just some thing about the control and precision of the miller that I have never been able to fault. But that's me using one daily.

I Was going to buy one then I would have the best miller that I could afford.

But there are some other units that for the money are worth looking at.

Parweld and Esab machines are deffinately worth a loo. Along with kemppi.

It's just going to be getting the best machine for you're budget.

[chazpowerslide]

I'm looking forward to getting one Adrian.

I have a choice of a 160A or 200A units.

Will the 160A unit be up to modding cast ally sumps?

I have two sumps to do initially and then some 5mm plate stuff.

Chaz.

[XTR2Turbo]

Chaz

I used to take all my welding to a local chap until he retired. He would do stuff whilst I waited. He had a £10k Tig welder and when waiting once I watched him weld alloy heat sinks together. They were 10mm thick and about 50cm square. Even with his kit he would heat them first as hot as possible with a blow torch. I suspect alloy sumps may be exactly the same. They just conduct heat away too well.

[chazpowerslide]

Hi Dave.

The thing is that I don't want to go for a 160A machine and struggle with it.

It'll probhably do the sumps at a push but take a lot of time to get the heat in.

The 160A machines I'm looking at have a 35-40% duty cycle at 160A, the 200A machine has a 100% duty cycle at 160A (all be it at a cost for the extra amps!!)

That means that on a cast sump and such like the the duty cycle may be an issue but I just do not know for sure.

I have Mig/Arc/Tig and gas welded so I'm familiar with the processes just not practiced on Tig as much as the others hence the questions.

The Tig I have used was a professional 3 phase 400A Esab unit water cooled with all the bells and whistles which would weld pretty much everything.

Chaz.

[TIG Brother]

Chaz.

You wouldn't attempt to do sumps without pre heating any way. The 160 amp machine would be at the top of its limits even with pre heating at that duty cycle.

Personally I would bite the bullet and just go for the 200 amp machine. That way you know you are going to have everything covered.